Livre: One Shots

[24] in the black

Laser Tag hangout and date night idea was invented by Lucifer himself and brought to life by Cara's imagination, Karlie decided.

She adjusted the weighted vest digging into her shoulder blades and winced at the flakes of worn plastic that fluttered to her feet from the movement. And are all these straps really necessary? She fiddled with the material until it pulled snugly against her waist and adjusted her gun holder for easy access.

A huff of annoyance pulled her attention to the other side of the room. Karlie tried to hide her smile as she watched Taylor struggle to put on her gear.

"If children can put it on...it shouldn't be this difficult," Taylor mumbled under her breath as she strode to Karlie's side.

"This was your idea to join them. And I don't know if these were meant for the giraffes we are," Karlie reminded her, though her tone was light and her eyes twinkled in amusement at Taylor's frustration. "We could always ditch them..." Her eyes wandered over to the adjacent corner of the room. Cara was adjusting the fit of her leather sports gloves with a strange look of concentration as Selena practiced various shooting poses—along with sound effects—while waving around her deactivated gun. Martha and Lily were nowhere to be found at the time being and all were dressed head to toe in various forms of black clothing.

They looked ridiculous.

"Dinner and a movie are still on the table, you know." Karlie offered, hopeful.

"I refuse," Taylor hissed. "I refuse to back down from this challenge."

Karlie lifted an eyebrow. "Challenge?"

"You know what Cara said," Taylor stated simply. "We are not predictable."

"I mean most of our date nights are a bit predictable babe. We're pretty easy to please" Karlie said. Hindsight told her that she should have talked to Taylor about date night when Cara was nowhere near their vicinity. "Something I'd prefer we were doing alone, frankly."

"And I can't believe she said that I wasn't versatile," Taylor continued, dismissing her comment. "That is ridiculous. My art demands fluidity. Does she know how much energy it goes into doing stadium tours?"

"You realize that you were definitely conned into this, right? She's been looking for an excuse to get back at me for ages."

"I don't believe you," Taylor responded with wide eyes.

"Never mind." Karlie sighed. "Taylor, your vest is on backwards."

"It is not. The employee clearly stated that the blue lights sit on your right side, and the green lights sit on your left—"

Karlie tuned her out as she began to gently tug Taylor out of the tangled mess she made of her straps. She was lifting her arms and pulling apart her fasteners when she heard Cara huff beside her, "It looks like you're dressing a toddler."

Karlie ignored the small gasp when she yanked the vest a little too forcefully off Taylor's shoulders and heaved it back on, facing the correct direction. "A 5'10" toddler?" Karlie muttered.

"Oh! It feels much better now," Taylor hummed. "Karlie, can you..." She lifted up her arms and pointed towards the hanging straps. "It still feels loose."

When Karlie leaned down to accommodate, Cara let out a snort. "You're stupidly whipped."

"Whatever," was all that Karlie could hiss back. Her eyes were focused on the low dip of Taylor's shirt neckline, and it might have taken more tries than necessary to get the front straps fastened and pulled snug for prime mobility. "Go make yourself useful and register us for target practice."